


Last Promise

by the_awkward_llewyn



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Darkspawn, Dragon Age - Freeform, F/M, Hope, Promise, Romance, The Calling, The Taint, Warden Oath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 15:31:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5461760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_awkward_llewyn/pseuds/the_awkward_llewyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alistair is awakened by great pain once again, still alone in the dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Promise

    He woke up in cold sweat. Shadows were dancing on his bed sheets at the fire’s melody. He was heavily panting, having barely escaped the dark dreams that were chasing him. He could still hear their sweet whispers, even after opening his weary eyes. He even, for a moment, mistook the wood crackling for their joyful laughter. Albeit the warmth of the room, Alistair felt a painful shiver down his uncovered chest. But something brought him back. Something familiar. A smell? A shape? Or was it the known feeling of the place he was in?

It doesn’t matter. He had escaped and was now quieter. He closed his eyes, just a moment. Gone. No monsters or their tasteful words. He was safe.

Alistair took a few breaths. In and out. He felt the warmth of the room penetrate his nose, down to his aching lungs, and kept his eyelids shut.

His gaze met the high ceiling when he braved the darkness anew. No light could reach it, leaving a dark heavy sky upon his head.

Where was he again? Alistair still felt a lingering feeling of fright deep beneath him. He needed to find peace. Looking around him, his eyes laid upon the only clear sight: the fire.

A threatening chill gave him the courage he was lacking to get out of his bed. With a slow, unsteady pace, Alistair came toward the sculpted chimney. He kept close to the place he was resting in earlier, afraid to lose himself in the creeping obscurity.

He hesitated, but finally walked toward the blazing fire. The shapes of his body were deformed, swallowed by the contrast of the flames upon his skin. A beast, a shapeless animal.

He suddenly remembered. He remembered what did bring him back from his nightmare. What familiarity had awaked his numb spirit, his frightened soul: the Calling. He had heard the both unnerving and ethereal music of its cry. A long, never ending screech in his ears, in his head and in his flesh. _It hurts._

Alistair laid his calloused hands in a hurry on both of his ears. _Make it stop._

But it became louder. Like a mad howl, he heard the beats singing to him the colorful anthem of death. Appealing. He felt his soul wander. They wanted him to join them in the darkness of the mountains. _Make it stop._

He could feel their yearning. They needed him to join. To draw his blade and slit their throats. To bloody his hands until they are covered of his own. Until his last breath.

_Make it stop!_

Alistair fell to his knees, as the fire died.

The room, like a cold tomb, became silent, mourning his grief.

The only light was now the moon shining in the starless sky. The snow kept falling, slowly covering the window by a thin veil. Soon, the beam wouldn’t be able to pierce through it, and darkness will swallow the room.

Like a lost child, Alistair was crouched on the cold stones of his bedroom, sobbing. He felt the frost like a deadly hand creeping on his shoulders.

And the melody. It was gone.

Alistair opened his eyes and cocked his head, to face the world again. He felt pain no more. And yet, the fatigue was keeping him down. He stared at the cobblestones like a dead creature, adrift. He wanted it to end. The suffering. The pain. The lifelike nightmares. He then only realized that he had taken with him his dagger. It was lying at his feet. A last ray of hope. Hope of escaping.

Alistair grabbed and clasped the weapon so tightly he could feel the blood struggling to flow through his veins.

With an unknown confidence, the king drew the blade and gently laid it on his throat. But… He heard a light sound. Like metal against metal. Something was weighing on his neck, cold and familiar. He looked down.

The last ray of light shone on the necklace, like a sign of the Maker.

**It was hers.**

Alistair lost his Warden Oath after escaping the tower of Ishal. But not her. She had kept it and cherished it. It was as strong as her determination and her faith _. Though darkness closes, I am shielded by flame._

Alistair repeated those very words aloud, like vows and felt warmth penetrate his heart.

She had kept him alive and walking. When the world fell down around them, she would embrace him and kiss him. When he felt his soul eaten by sorrow, she would gently stroke his hair and promise it will soon be over. **She** was the reason he was still alive.

He remembered the night. The night when she gave him her necklace, like her last promise that _it will soon be over_. The stone, as deep blue as her eyes, was held by a strong chain. A white griffon, the Grey Wardens symbol, was carefully painted on it, almost carved in the medallion.

She gently said to him, as they were both lying in bed, unable to sleep for they were too tormented to rest.

 _I need to go_ , _to save you. Save us. And then, it will be over._

He never felt greater pain than the one caused by these words. Her leaving his side was much worse than any nightmare cursing his sleep.

The Calling had already begun, she knew it. Almost every night, Alistair shifted, screamed in his sleep. And every night, she promised. **She promised.**

_I will find a solution. And you will live._

His words stood unheeded. He protested, begged her to stay, but she would not. She got up, grabbed only her light armor and her sword, and kissed him.

He grabbed her and took her in his strong arms.

She kissed him again, and with a melancholic smile, gently pushed him back. But he would not let go. He tried to kiss her again but she placed her thin hands on his chest and kept him at a distance. She wanted to. But every kiss was a burden, weighing on her ankles like a chain preventing her from leaving him.

She smiled again, with tears in her shining eyes. She laid her gaze upon his mouth, like trying to remember the taste of his lips. She sighed but did not look any further. With her trembling fingers, she untangled the necklace around her pale neck and put it on his heart. No words. She kissed the jewel. Kissed Alistair with her eyes. And she left.

 

Alistair was staring at the blue medallion and brought it to his lips. He could still smell her light fragrance.

She wanted him to live. And she was what mattered to him.

He put the dagger down and after an instant, got back up.

She wanted him to live, and so, he shall.

 

He kept the jewel as her last promise that _everything_ _will be over soon_.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Thank you for reading my very first fanfiction ! I hope you enjoyed, and would really appreciate it if you could give me your opinion :)


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